Corn sheller



Aug.'8, 1939. J. A. ERICKSON CORN SHELLER Filed July 10, 1937 Jar-1N A. E'H/EKEUN a housing 2 in which is rotatably mounteda Patented Aug. 8, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 5 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for removing dried corn from its cob and more particularly to a device which separates the shelled com, the chaff and the cobs.

Itisi the purpose of the present invention to provide a corn sheller particularly for farm use which is readily portable yet effective and efii- .cient.' v

An object of the invention is to provide a corn sheller wherein the corn is removed from the cob and the cob simultaneously moved axially of the shell-er to eject it from the machine.

' Another object of the invention is to provide a corn sheller having a shelling cylinder wherein mechanism is provided for urging ear corn fed to the cylinder thereagainst.

A further object of the invention is to provide a shelling cylinder having spirally arranged knobs thereon. 1

Still another object of the invention isto provide a shelling cylinder having a plurality of sheared edges projecting therefrom, some of said edges being spirally disposed and others of said edges being axially disposed.

These and other objects will be apparent from the following specification when taken from the accompanying drawing in which,

Fig. 1 is a perspective viewof the invention in operation,

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through thelll per portion thereof perpendicular to the shelling cylinder,

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the shelling cylinder,

" Fig. 4 is a developed view of the surface of an alternative form of shelling cylinder,

Fig. 5 is a vertical section through the blower and the shaker screen for removing the chaff from the corn just before it drops into a container below the cylinder, and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged section on the line VI-VI of Fig. 4.

Referring particularly to the drawin the reference character I indicates a frame on which the sheller is mounted. The machine comprises 'shelling' cylinder 3 on a shaft 4, the shelling cylinder 3 having helically mounted thereon a plurality of knobs 5. The knobs 5 may be as illus- 'tr'ated in Figs. 2 and 3 but preferably are as 11- lustrated in Fig. 4, formed by shearing a plurality of edges 6 in a hollow sheet metal cylinder and forcing the sheared edges outwardly to provide knobs I. The knobs 1 are preferably formed and positioned prior to the forming of a fiat plate into the cylinder 3. The knobs I are disposed helically, the pitch thereof being preferably between three and four times the diameter or the cylinder. While the sheared edges 6 for the most part extend helically toward the outlet 5 end of the cylinder, as will be explained later, some of the projections I have their sheared edges 6 projecting axially of the cylinder. The cylinder 3 is rotated by a driving pulley 8 mounted outside of the body 2 on one end of the shaft 4. l0

Mounted over the shelling cylinder 3 is a shellirig sleeve 9 which is elongated and substantially co-extensive along its major axis with the shelling cylinder 3. The shelling sleeve 9 has a curved cross-section in planes parallel to its minor axis and perpendicular to the shaft 4. The major axis of the shelling sleeve 9 is inclined toward the right or outlet end of the shelling cylinder 3 and its minor axis is inclined downwardly and forwardly as disclosed in Fig. 1 in such a manner as to make the forward edge of the sleeve 9 closer to the cylinder 3 than the rear edge. Hooks I!) normally resting against the outside of the body and against an interior, inclined surface I I support the sleeve 9 in the position just described but in such a manner that it may slide upwardly and forwardly along the inclined surface II should the inward pressure by ear corn; or corn cobs between the cylinder 3 and the sleeve 9 become sufficiently great. The upward and forward movement of the sleeve 9 is yieldably resisted by springs I5, disposed about pins I6 projecting parallel tothe surface II, rigidly connected to the sleeve 9 and slidably disposed in openings in the outer ends of upwardly projecting brackets 'I'I, secured by bolts I8 to the forward side of the body 2. It will be clear that the pins I6 in addition to supporting the springs l5 also guide the'sleeve 9 as it moves. Mounted above and tothe left on the inlet side of the body 2 is 'a hopper I9 for receiving ear corn and feeding it to the'top of the shelling cylinder 3. As disclosed in Figs. 1 and 2 the hopper I9 is wider at the left or inlet side than it is at the right or outlet'side, the narrow side being approximately in alignment with the mid-portion of the shelling cylinder 3. The purpose of the irregular shape is to limit to one at a time the entrance of ears of corn to that portion of the shelling 50 cylinder 3 to the right of the hopper I9 and covered by the shelling sleeve 9 but to insure at the same time a constant movement of cars.

As corn is removed from the cobs by the shelling cylinder 3 it falls down past the shelling cylinder 3 and is guided by the inwardly diverging lower side portions of the body 2 to a shaker screen 20 which is suspended by arms 2| from pivots 22 mounted in the sides 23 of the trough 24 which opens tothe rear. The screen 20 is vibrated by an eccentric 25 driven by the shaft 26 on which is mounted a blower 21 disposed in a housing 28. As the shaker screen 20 is vibrated shelled corn falls downwardly through an opening 29 in the bottom of the trough 24 into a suitable container such as a basket 30. The chaff does not pass through the shaker screen 20 but is removed by the blast of air delivered by the blower 21, out of the rear end of the trough 24. The rear pivot 22 may be disposed in alternate openings 3| in the sides of the trough 24 to change the inclination of the shaker screen 20 should such a change be desired. It will be observed that in operation the blast of air created by the blower 21 serves to assist in the sifting of the shelled corn from the chaff by passing upwardly through the shaker screen 20 and preventing any of the smaller particles of the chaff from dropping through with the shelled corn.

The source of power for driving the shelling roller 3 and blower 21 is an electric motor 35 supported from the frame I and having mounted on its driving shaft 36 a driving pulley 31. A driving belt 38 passes around the pulley 31, the pulley 8 on the end of the shaft 4 of the shelling cylinder 3 and the pulley 39 on the end of the shaft 26 of the blower 21. An additional belt tightening pulley 40 is provided.

In operation, as ear corn is fed by the hopper l9 it moves onto the top of the left half of the shelling cylinder, that is, the portion directly below the hopper IS.

The spiral arrangement of the knobs 1 on the cylinder 3 serves to feed the ears of corn toward the right or outlet end of the cylinder. The left half of the portion of the shelling cylinder 3 to the right of the hopper l9 and beneath the shelling sleeve 9 has approximately 25% of the .knobs I is to feed the ears of corn to the right or outlet side of the shelling cylinder 3 although they doproduce some shelling action. As the corn passes the right edge of the hopper I9 and comes adjacent that portion of the cylinder 3 on which approximately 25% of the edges 6 are arranged parallel to the axis of the cylinder 3 the ears are rotated by the axially extending edges and further shelled. As it moves to the last quarter, more or less, of the shelling cylinder 3 on which approximately 50% of the edges 6 are disposed parallel to the axis of the cylinder 3, the ears are further rotated and the shelling is completed. While the ears are between the shelling cylinder 3 and the shelling sleeve 9 they are subjected to pressure which assists in the shelling and axial'feeding. To this end the sleeve 9 is so arranged with respect to the cylinder 3 that even bare cobs will be subjected to pressure exerted on the sleeve 9 by the springs [5. The pressure exerted by the springs I is made more effective by the wedging action which takes place as ears are somewhat wedged between the converging surfaces of the cylinder 3 and the sleeve 9, both toward the front of the 75 machine and toward the outlet side. The shelled cobs are then ejected from the outlet or right side of the machine as viewed in Fig. 1. In order to catch any chance pieces of corn that may be ejected from the outlet with the cobs, a trough 42 having an inclined bottom is secured to and communicates with the body 2 and has across the upper portion thereof a screen 43. Thus cobs move across the screen 43 while any corn that might be moved out with the cobs falls through the screen 43 into the lower portion of the body 2 and onto the shaker screen 20.

Another feature of the invention is the tipper 44 mounted at the hub of the pulley 8. The tipper 44 is in the form of a hollow cone supported adj acent its apex and is provided at the interior thereof with knife blades 45. Thus should it be desired to use the corn, which is being shelled, for seed the tips of each ear of corn, at which imperfectly formed grains usually appear, may be inserted in the tipper 44 to remove the imperfectly formed grains before the ears are placed in the hopper [9.

The present corn sheller in addition to being light in weight, inexpensive and portable has the advantage that it requires only a small amount of power to operate it so that a fractional horse power motor may be used. While the sheller described is primarily designed for farm or domestic use, it is not intended that the invention be so limited but that the principle disclosed may be applied to machines for commercial use. Further I do not wish to be strictly limited to the relation specifically set forth between the hopper l9 and the shelling roller 3 or to the relative per centages between the helically arranged edges 6 and those edges 6 arranged parallel to the axis of rotation of the cylinder 3 or to their respective locations. Accordingly I do not wish to be limited except by the scope of the following claims,

I claim:

1. A corn sheller comprising a shelling cylinder having a plurality of knobs thereon, each of said knobs presenting a shearing edge, some of said shearing edges being helically aligned with respect to each other and others of said shearing edges being aligned parallel to the axis or rotation of said cylinder, said helically arranged and parallel edges being mutually interspaced over a portion of the surface of said cylinder, means I for rotating said cylinder, a yieldable, inclined sleeve extending along said cylinder, and means to feed ear corn between said sleeve and said cylinder, said sleeve resisting outward movement of the ears and said knobs being disposed helically on said cylinder whereby the corn ears are di rected axially of said cylinder, said sleeve being closest to said cylinder adjacent the end thereof from which the shelled cobs are directed.

2. A corn sheller comprising a shelling cylinder having a plurality of knobs thereon, each of said knobs presenting a shearing edge, some of the said shearing edges being helically aligned with respect to each other and others of said shearing edges being aligned parallel to the axis of rotation of said cylinder, said helically arranged and parallel edges being mutually interspaced over a portion of the surface of said cylinder, means for rotating said cylinder, a yieldable, inclined sleeve extending along said cylinder, and a hopper extending along said shelling cylinder for a portion of the length thereof for feeding ear corn between said sleeve and said cylinder, said knobs being disposed helically on said cylinder whereby the corn ears are directed axially of 'said cylinder, said sleeve maintaining the ears against said cylinder under pressure and being closest to said cylinder adjacent the end thereof from which shelled cobs are directed. I

3. A device of the character described comprisa ing a sheet metal cylinder, a plurality of shearing edges disposed over the surface thereof, knobs struck up from said surface each including one of said shearing edges, said knobs being helically arranged, some of said shearing edges being aligned helically and some being aligned parallel tothe axis of said cylinder, said helically aligned and parallel edges being mutually interspaced over at least a portion of the surface of the cylinder.

4. A corn sheller, comprising a shelling cylinder having a plurality of knobs thereon, each of said knobs presenting a substantially straight edge, some of said straight edges being helically aligned with respect to each other and the other of said straight edges being aligned parallel to the axis of rotation of said cylinder, said helically aligned and parallel edges being mutually interspaced over at least a portion of the surface of said cylinder, means for rotating said cylinder, a 'yieldable sleeve extending along said cylinder, and means to feed ear corn between said sleeve and said cylinder, said sleeve resisting outward movement of the ear and-said knobs being disposed helically on said cylinder, whereby corn ears are directed axially of said cylinder.

JOHN A. ERICKSON. 

